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And now there’s news that Google itself is apparently standing up for brick-and-mortar retailers\u2014especially enterprise brands with distributed local footprints\u2014by promoting in-store purchases ahead of online search. But how will the de facto search giant actually achieve its seemingly benevolent goal? And, more importantly, why<\/em>?<\/p>\n Google was recently granted a patent for automatic delivery of customer assistance at physical locations<\/a>. On the surface, it’s contextual tech that detects when a user is at a physical location to make a purchase. It then provides users with unprompted notifications\u2014presumably via their device’s Google Assistant\u2014to facilitate purchasing the product right there and then.<\/p>\n Imagine you’re shopping for a smart TV in a store; a TV you’ve previously researched online. Your phone lights up. It’s your Assistant asking if there’s anything else you need to know about your desired item.<\/p>\n Source: Google patent application<\/a><\/p>\n Knowing exactly where you are and which aisles you’ve been browsing, your Assistant deems you a “high-profit user”. It escalates your notifications to the second tier\u2014remote chat support\u2014and, ultimately, dispatches an in-store sales associate to your location to answer your burning questions about firmware, connectivity, and viewable angles.<\/p>\n So far, so handy. But, this being Google, there’s so much more going on beneath the surface. You don’t have to wait long for this whole idea to get a bit too creepy for its own good.<\/p>\n Part of Google’s patent application pertains to the use of your calendar, emails, texts, social media, instant chat, purchase histories, and reminder lists to generate these unprompted notifications.<\/p>\n That’s a lot of personal information, right? Well, that’s not even the disturbing part: the list also includes “communication information associated with a family member”. So, if your partner recently bought a turntable, your Assistant may clamour for your attention every time you venture too close to speaker cables.<\/p>\n It’s all very reminiscent of Target’s much-maligned data-driven campaign<\/a>, which has become something of a marketing case study since 2012. Major US retailer deduces from a teenage customer’s purchase history that she’s pregnant; sends her pregnancy-related offers. The problem? She hadn’t yet told her family, who inadvertently learned the news via discount coupons posted to their home.<\/p>\n Compare and contrast with Apple, who are taking strides towards greater user privacy, including blocking third-party user tracking by default<\/a>. Are we seeing the two rivals diverge towards opposite ends of the privacy spectrum? Time will tell.<\/p>\nGoogle Assistant: sales associate<\/h2>\n
![\"Wireframe](\"\/wpe-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/patent-screenshot-2.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAn insatiable appetite for your personal data<\/h2>\n
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